Sunday, May 25, 2008

Lines of Detention: I will not slack off on updating again.I will not slack off on updating again.I will not slack off on updating again.I will not slack off on updating again.I will not slack off on updating again.I will not slack off on updating again.I will not slack off on updating again.I will not slack off on updating again.I will not slack off on updating again.I will not slack off on updating again.

Ok, now that that is done, let's move on to the fun stuff.

Remember the first post of this blog? It showed a shiny new Raptor mesh that was in the works and promised for release some time in the future. Well, that day is today.

Exciting times... Set only to get more interesting after this week. This coming week is going to be unfortunately busy, putting a clamp on my plans to update some time in the next several days. I've just finished being the Technical Director on the Australian International Animation Festival (yes, it was big) and I'm wrapping up the University semester with a week full of assessments beginning 8am tomorrow (Monday) morning.

I've worked alot on the Raptor in the last three weeks, being sick of it in limbo and needing to get it out there with the new Atlantis mesh (watch that space, too...) so it's nice to finally see it finished.

Before I lavish this post with pretty pictures however, I'd like to take a moment to do something I'm not accustomed to; reviewing a film. This will only be brief.

Indiana Jones and the Kindgom of the Crystal Skull

I'm of the opinion that the worst thing that ever happened to George Lucas was the discovery of CGI as a tool in film making. Look what happened to the Star Wars prequels - they were ruined because Lucas spent so much time on visuals, and not enough time on a genuine effort to tell a story.

Sadly, it's happened again, this time with his other Fedora-wearing franchise, Indiana Jones.

I am a huge fan of the original films. They have a campy seriousness to them which, as someone reminded me last night, has me grinning from ear to ear every time I see them. I'm one of the silent few who considers The Last Crusade to be the best of the original three, purely because it did so much, and contained so many interesting characters and events. Raiders, while good, didn't grip me in that same way.

Let's get this straight - Crystal Skull has all the elements of Indiana Jones:Harrison Ford - CheckDifficult and uncooperative female love interest - CheckFedora - CheckWhips - CheckStereotypical humungous bad guy who inevitably has to Box with Indy - CheckEvil Femme Fatale - CheckPlot to take over the world with some mythical device - CheckObscene Car Chase - Check

Now let's change "Nazi" to "Communist", and we have Indy IV.

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull suffers from the most classic trappings of both Spielberg and Lucas. It's as if the two of them couldn't help themselves. Instead of being treated to Indiana Jones on one of his ruggishly fun adventures, we're shown an aged, mocked old man who plays second fiddle to one Shia La Beouf, who is disappointingly assured to become the next titular hero. Ford's performance is good as the elderly Indiana, and it's nice to see him in the role again, even if the direction of the character seems to undermine that which we know him for.

To be fair, it is unrealistic for us to expect the same Indiana after 20 years on the sidelines, and it was nice to see Spielberg and Lucas pay their respect to the original trilogy with the return of an old flame in Marion Ravenwood (Once again played by a somewhat older Karen Allen of Raiders fame) and it was equally sad to see that neither Sean Connery nor John Rhys-Davis do not make returns. (And Denholm Elliot - "Marcus Brody" - died in 1992.)

Another disappointing turn is the new direction of the 'stunts', which have gone from a gritty, practical 'realism' in the original three films to a CGI-driven series of visual gags ranging from a flying refrigerator (I'm not kidding) to people being eaten alive by giant man-eating ants, which I could swear has been ripped straight out of Brendan Fraser'sThe Mummy. Come to think of it, the entire plot came from that film, so if you're expecting something original, new and fantastic... Look elsewhere. About the most 'impressive' stunt in the entire film involves a ridiculously forced sword fight where Shia La Beouf straddles two jeeps and gets whacked several times in the nether regions by spiky amazonian flora.

The classic Nazi evil has completely been replaced with the Red Menace of the 1950s, complete with an equally 'classic' plot involving Communist mind control, and spearheaded by an unbelieveably bad antagonist in Cate Blanchett, who was forced to look something like Dr. Evil's mother. So in fact, not only has this film got all the elements of Indiana Jones, it also has all the elements of a shocking '50s sci-fi. Area 51, Mind Control, World Domination and even... well... I just can't bring myself to say it. It might be a spoiler, but let's just say this wouldn't be the first series under Spielberg's hand to suffer from what I shall call "Season 2 Syndrome".

By all means, go and see Indiana Jones IV, because I dont know how much longer we'll get to see Harrison Ford in the role at all. No matter how bad, we may as well get used to reality and enjoy what little we have left while we still can.